Donald Trump’s worst insults as he calls girl ‘piggy’ – from battle digs to crude slurs
US President Donald Trump has prompted outrage after calling a female journalist ‘piggy’ during a press conference, adding to a long list of shocking insults and controversial remarks
US President Donald Trump sparked outrage recently after he called a female journalist “piggy”. But it isn’t the first time he’s been at the centre of such controversy.
During a press conference onboard the presidential Air Force One on Friday (November 14), Trump ordered Bloomberg’s White House correspondent Catherine Lucey to be “quiet” before calling her a “piggy”. It was Lucey’s question about the Jeffrey Epstein scandal and why the American leader was behaving the way he was “if there’s nothing incriminating in the files” that prompted Trump to lash out at the journalist.
While the exchange has been called out for being “disgusting” and “completely unacceptable” by fellow reporters, Trump’s jab isn’t his first polarising one.
From crude slurs and sexist jibes to attacks on war heroes and immigrants, here’s a rundown of the worst things the former US President has ever said.
Grab ’em by the pussy
In a 2005 recording leaked during the 2016 US presidential election campaign, Trump described how he approached women. He boasted to TV host Billy Bush that, as a celebrity, he could do “anything” to women without their consent.
According to the leaked audio, Trump said: “I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it.
“You can do anything. … Grab ’em by the pussy. You can do anything”
Very fine people on both sides
At a press conference after the violent 2017 Charlottesville rally, where white nationalists and counter-protesters clashed, Trump said there were “very fine people on both sides”. His comment was widely criticised for appearing to equate white supremacists with those protesting against racism.
Insulting John McCain’s war record
During a presidential campaign event in Iowa in July 2015, Trump said: “He’s not a war hero. He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren’t captured.” His remarks were in reference to Senator John McCain’s military service as a Navy pilot during the Vietnam War, where he was shot down and held as a prisoner of war for over five and a half years, enduring torture.
Calling Mexicans ‘rapists’
When launching his presidential campaign in 2015, Trump claimed that Mexico was sending criminals to the US. At the time, he said: “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best…
“They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime.
“They’re rapists”
Mocking a reporter with a disability
During a November 2015 rally, the then-presidential candidate, while referencing New York Times reporter Serge Kovaleski, made jerking gestures and flailed his arms in an apparent imitation of the reporter, who has the congenital joint condition arthrogryposis.
‘S***hole countries’
Trump referred to Haiti, El Salvador, and African nations as “s***hole countries” during a 2018 meeting about immigration.
Insulting (more) women
In a September 2015 interview with Rolling Stone magazine during his presidential campaign, Trump made insulting remarks while watching business woman Carly Fiorina on a television news segment. He then added: “I mean, she’s a woman, and I’m not supposed to say bad things, but really, folks, come on.
“Are we serious?” He added: “Look at that face!
“Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?”
Attacking Gold Star family
After the parents of a fallen US Army captain, Khizr and Ghazala Khan, appeared at a major political event in 2016 to criticise him, Trump sparked outrage by commenting on Ghazala’s silence on stage. He said, “If you look at his wife, she was standing there.
“She had nothing to say. She probably, maybe she wasn’t allowed to have anything to say.”
Many saw this as an insensitive and offensive remark about her Muslim faith and family.
‘Go back’ tweets to congresswomen
Trump was accused of racism after tweeting about four female US politicians of colour. He stated: “Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.”
The women, three of whom were born in the US and one who moved there as a child, were all outspoken critics of Trump, and his comments sparked outrage both in the US and abroad, with even then-Prime Minister Theresa May calling them “completely unacceptable”.
Insulting Rosie O’Donnell
Trump’s long-running feud with American TV personality Rosie O’Donnell began in 2006 after she criticised him on air. In response, Trump insulted her, saying: “Rosie O’Donnell is disgusting, both inside and out.
“If you take a look at her, she’s a slob”. He made several other personal attacks.
Infantilising Greta Thunberg
In December 2019, after teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg was named Time magazine’s Person of the Year, Trump mocked her on Twitter. He wrote: “She seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future.”
Many saw this as a sarcastic dig at Thunberg.
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